Cold Outside

You know it's cold outside when:

1. You can see you breath the minute you step outside
2. You take in your first breath and the cold air makes you cough
3. Taking that first breath of air makes your nose hairs freeze
4. You car takes 20 min to warm-up enough to drive
5. You dog can't stay outside long enough to do his business
6. There's no cloud in the sky, sun shining and you feel no warmth from the sun
7. You look like Rudolph every time you walk into a building
8. You do a happy dance when the 7 day forecast shows temperatures of 10 to 20 degrees at the end of the week.

It is more then freezing here. The past few weeks have been frigid and I have experienced all of the above events every single time I step outside (or watched my dog outside). The high the other day in Anchorage was -10 and on our way out to Palmer last weekend we drove through an area that was -30. I'm thinking that 10 degrees sounds pretty hot right now and am so thankful I don't live in Fairbanks where it by far colder.

White Christmas

This year was the year for Tyler and I to head down to Seattle for Christmas and spend it with my family. Little did we ever expect in Sept. when we bought our tickets that we would be having a white Christmas. There was about 9 inches of snow at my parents house and it was rather cold outside. The best thing was that it snowed on Christmas day. What a perfect backdrop for a wonderful and perfect day.

We managed to fit a whole lot into just 5 days. We had Christmas, Rosemary's 1st Birthday party and lots of friends to visit. We managed to see almost everyone we wanted to. We had a great time playing games with the Tholls and the Platts. I got to have coffee with my good friend Doris-Rai from High School. We had a delicious breakfast with the Olanders and hope to get to see them up here in our neighborhood soon for another visit; and we also got to spend time with the Smalls. We are so blessed to have so many good family friends down in Seattle. You all have an impact on our lives and we love catching up with you all.

The greatest joy of being down in Seattle was spending time with my family. Tyler got to meet Rosemary for the first time and PJ entertained us all with her dancing, singing and continual comments. My mom made an amazing dinner for about 17 people and like always we had the traditional Greenfield family sharing at the end of the night where we all share what we have learned or experienced over the last year. It is a great time of reflection and fun for Tyler and I to hear from everyone since we miss so much living so far away.

Out time was sweet and as always way to short. But we have lots of pictures to remember our time and we hope to see all of you some time soon.

Tree Trek '08

Well it was a success. Our 2008 Gates' Christmas Tree trek was an adventure. Between a mix of snow and rain showers we managed to come out with 5 Christmas trees (7 if you count the 2 little trees that Callie found for herself and Jill) This year the trees were extremly sparse so finding that many good trees took some time.

Here is just a glips of this years Trek (thanks to Natalie our photographer).















Tyler and I decided on a small tree this year (very Charlie Brown like) since we will be spending Christmas away in Seattle. It will fit well on our corner table in the livingroom, however by the time Tyler puts on all the lights he wants to we'll be lucky to have a tree that stands up at all.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Day and More

We had a great Thanksgiving, with lots of snow and lots of food. We traveled out to "the property" (Tyler's parents home) in Palmer and spent Thanksgiving with all the Gates' (at least with all the Gates clan that wasn't on a catamaran in the BV Islands). We also had some new friends of ours, the Ham's, join us out there for a Thanksgiving feast. And I believe that my little niece Jill, at only 1 year 11 months, ate more then anyone else at Thanksgiving.





Tyler and I both got to enjoy a nice long 4 day weekend and really did nothing much to show for it. Tyler broke in his new "Gears of War 2" Xbox game and I did some reading and of course some shopping. I didn't brave the early morning crowds on Friday but I did venture out around 11:30am and got some great deals which I was more then happy with.

Now we have our house all decorated for Christmas and we are playing Christmas music everyday. I love this time of year.

The Swap

So we made the big move and canceled our cable.
No we did not switch to dish we have the good old fashion Bunnie Ears at our house. You might be thinking that we're crazy. I mean it's winter time in Alaska and that means dark days, cold weather and lots of snow so why in the world would we be so foolish to cancel cable at this time? Well we have remedied the situation by joining the thousands of others who are members of Netflix.

That's right we have joined the throngs of movie watchers and have become one of "those people" who watch our mailbox for the next movie on our queue to arrive. Really you wouldn't believe the excitement and anticipation there is waiting for your next movie to arrive at your door. Also being an Xbox owner was never something I thought I would get enjoyment out of but we can now stream movies directly to our xbox through Netflix so we can watch them instantly if we choose. It is a great way to get entertainment at home without having to brave the cold weather and the snow laden roads.

So, don't know what to do with your winter evening? Give us a call and see what we are cozying down to in front of our fire to watch and maybe you'll want to join us. Now you won't always find us in front of our TV enjoying the benefits of Netflix (we do get outside some during this time) but during this winter season we will be expanding our movie trivia knowledge though this new addition so be ready for the Movie game...we'll be unstoppable (at least Tyler will. I still have very little retention of movies that I watch and actors in those movies.)

So ... want to join us one evening? Here is what's coming over the next few weeks:

What we've all been waiting for...

Yes, it is unoffically the Holiday season again. Starbucks has the famous red cups out and that simple little paper cup has always made the begining of winter a joy and delight to me.


Last year I decided that I needed to bring this simple delight of the red cup home and so I outfitted my little mug tree with these:



If you haven't had a cup of joe in the red cups yet you're missing out. Come over to my house if you would like or go into Starbucks some time today. My recomendations this year:

1) Passion Tea w/one honey (ask for a grande size with only one tea bag and they will only charge you for a tall size...more for you money)

2) Chai Tea (ask it to me made with no H20 and w/soy milk for a creamy and wonderful delight)

3) Black and White Mocha (this is a mix of half white chocolate and half regular chocolate mocha)

4) Peppermint Mocha (this is a very festive drink)

Now, please control yourself and don't get to carried away by the Holiday excitment just yet. I think that Thanksgiving gets shafted every year. I mean there is lots of excitment for Halloween and even before Halloween gets here the stores are decked out with the Christmas docor and the holiday advertisments. Where is Thanksgiving? Shoved aside and forgotten about really (untill you eat that amazing Turkey).

So don't get to wrapped up in the Holiday season just yet and if the simple excitement of the red cup makes you forget about Thanksgiving don't worry there is a remidy for that as well - simply order the Pumpkin spice Latte. Who can forget about Thanksgiving when drinking this delightful latte?


MMMMMM....I think I need to take a Starbucks run

Did you?